Leonardo Enhances Dynamic eBrochure Technology

Leonardo is now offering two new variants of its popular eBooks, They are digital replica’s of any printed marketing material – which can be viewed both online and offline and downloaded an unlimited number of times.

Template eBook - designed primarily for large hotel/travel groups which mandate design/collateral integrity across all brands, regions and groups. Using a template design, the eBook can be replicated for all hotels within a brand incorporating virtual tours, moving images, interactive links and sound clips. A key feature (for existing Leonardo customers with content management platforms) is its “auto-update functionality” – ensuring all information being displayed is fresh and up-to-date.

Full Page eBook – ideally suited to large volume collateral such as directories and travel magazines, this new eBook is an exact replica of the printed version, using the client’s original size artwork. Complete with links within the eBook to selected Web sites and booking engines. The full page zoom functionality provides online viewers with the feeling that they are reading a printed brochure.

“It’s not difficult for travel and hospitality executives to migrate from expensive, time-consuming and quickly outdated printed marketing materials to exciting and inexpensive electronic brochures” said Leonardo CEO David Elton. “This new marketing medium is a highly cost effective way of delivering a companies current – and ever changing – marketing message in real time to potential or brand loyal customers.

‘As the eBooks are digital, they can be updated as often as the customer requires unlike printed brochures,” Elton said. “It provides consistency of rich media content across the hotel brand or tour/travel operation as it ensures that all information being displayed is current. The eBooks facilitates easy navigation between each section and page within the eBook, and It features the advanced technology needed to support animated images. Additional features, such as sound clips and exploding roll-overs offer enhanced media presentation as well.”

Once the e-Book has been created from existing photographs, logos and text, it can be downloaded an unlimited number of times from anywhere in the world and distributed accordingly. File sizes are compressed to facilitate seamless download and information can be shared from one viewer to the next via email, a link to a website or by burning the data to a CD Rom. In addition, the ability to track downloads is invaluable.

“Many hotel groups and independent properties are already realizing the cost benefits and promotional advantages offered by eBooks,” Elton said. Print and distribution costs are dramatically reduced, as eBooks become a highly cost-effective way to distribute marketing messages without the time-consuming task of the traditional distribution methods and the ever-increasing administrative costs that accompany them.”

Demand for eBooks increasing According to research estimates, about 75 percent of all prospective travellers use the Internet to research airline schedules and hotels before making travel plans. In addition, over the next two years online channels will generate 60 percent of gross travel bookings, and the number of reservations made through hotel-brand Web sites will increase by more than 60 percent.

Those are forecasts made by PhoCusWright Inc., an independent travel, tourism and hospitality research firm specialising in consumer, business and competitive intelligence. Their significance is clear: As more consumers shop and buy travel products on the Internet, it will be incumbent on forward-looking hotels, chains and management companies to have their collateral available in a digital, online format that will turn lookers into bookers.

“The challenge nowadays is to match what hotels, tour operators and travel companies have available online with what they have in print,” Elton said. “For example, consumers still want to look at a hotel, its rooms, restaurants and pool but don’t always have the time or inclination to go and navigate the hotel’s Web site to do so.”

Key features and benefits of eBooks include:

• Strong visual impact with page-turning presentation on any PC screen; viewable both online or offline. Fully interactive and reader-friendly with indexes, pop-ups, animated graphics, virtual tours, and “hotlinks” to Web sites and booking engines.
• Can be distributed in unlimited numbers via email or made downloadable from a Web site, which ensures timely marketing and saves significantly on traditional paper printing, marketing and distribution costs.
• Can be updated without having to wait for the next paper-print-run; seamless updating process ensures that content is always current and accurate.
• Can be interfaced with a back-end database and personalized with specific client particulars (such as name and loyalty points) for pushing dynamic and customized content, making it an excellent marketing tool for frequent-guest programs, seasonal packages and promotional campaigns.

“Potential travellers are being ‘wowed’ by the visual impact online media offers and which have proven to influence and sell travel by helping customers to make better, more immediate purchase decisions,” Elton said. “We think the travel industry also will be ‘wowed’ by the simplicity and speed of migration and update process that our new e-Books provide when compared to traditional methods used - not to mention the significant cost-savings and marketing clout it offers.”

The complete Leonardo e-Brochure/e-Book portfolio can be viewed at